NATCHEZ, Miss. – Emergency repairs will be done to the city’s deteriorated Canal Street bridge at a cost of about $600,000, but a new span will eventually have to be built to replace the aged structure.
Natchez aldermen agreed Tuesday to hire a Canadian-based engineering firm to oversee the repairs while long-term planning is underway for funding and building a new bridge, which Mayor Dan Gibson said could cost about $6 million.
City officials in December began prohibiting buses, emergency vehicles and large trucks from traveling on the bridge after inspectors found corrosion on at least three of the nine steel girders supporting the 64-year-old bridge.
Plans are for repairs being done in the short term to keep open the much-traveled bridge weakened by rusted and cavity-ridden girders, but it eventually needs to be replaced because it’s so old, Gibson said. In the meantime, he noted, heavy vehicles will likely continue to be banned from the crossing until a new bridge is built.
A 5-ton weight limit was imposed in December on vehicles traveling the span near the Natchez Visitors Center. The average car weighs 1.5 tons and the average passenger truck is 3 tons, according to the mayor.
Larger vehicles, such as tour buses, fire trucks and 18-wheelers, are not allowed on the bridge and must take alternate routes as they enter or exit downtown Natchez.
The city could get state funds for the $600,000 bridge-repair job, Gibson said, while other sources will be sought for the eventual $6 million bridge-replacement project, which could take three or more years to do.
This comes after the city in 2019 spent about $312,000 to rehabilitate the bridge built in 1960. The repairs then focused on various bridge components, such as decking and guardrails.
While the bridge passed a January 2023 inspection, a later review discovered the deterioration that prompted the weight limit being imposed in December.
Stantec – a Canadian-based company with construction and engineering operations throughout the world – has a branch in Jackson. Its projects have included helping that city renovate its crippled water system and helping Vicksburg make emergency repairs for a flood-damaged road.
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